Solid rain

Ticonderoga to Schroon Lake, NY

My sister told me that she cried when she read the entry about my trailer problems. Hey Suze - don't cry when you read this one! I was wet, but I'm dry now!

Rain, rain, and more rain. It rained a good part of the night, and it was still pouring when I got up this morning. I considered staying put, but since the weather forecast calls for rain for the next three days, I figured I'd better get moving. My target destination was Newcomb, which would have been a 45 mile ride. I didn't make it there, but I'm dry and happy in Schroon Lake. It was a short but very wet ride, starting with a serious 3-mile uphill. About a mile and a half of the uphill was at a 9-10% grade, but the rest was more reasonable. Of course I made the mistake of stopping to rest where I thought the grade had moderated. Unfortunately, that was a false impression, and it was still a very steep grade, which meant I couldn't get started again. One of these days I'll get the knack of getting the bike rolling again on a steep grade. Today I had to walk a bit - probably about a third of a mile. My walking speed wasn't much slower than my riding speed though - nothing like only progressing 3 miles in an hour! The rain eased up a bit while I was walking, and I stopped to have a conversation with 2 women who were sitting in a car in one of the parking areas on the side of the road. As soon as I started riding again, it started raining again too. Even in full rain gear, it was very wet.

No pictures today, so I'll have to make do with the pictures in my mind. The road was absolutely beautiful. Other than the first long uphill, it was rolling, with small lakes and woods along the road. I like it.

I stopped at the Paradox General Store for something warm to drink and ended up staying for about an hour and a half. The owners are cyclists themselves, and are planning to do a (southern) cross-country trip on their tandem someday. I owe them thanks for letting me stay and talk and warm up! They told me that I was the 5th cyclist who passed through within the last week or so heading east to west.

I decided that I needed a dry place to stay (and that continuing on to Newcomb wouldn't be too smart given the weather), so I asked the folks at the store about any nearby motels or B&Bs. They told me about a new motel a couple of miles north on route 9, and motels and restaurants in Schroon Lake. I opted for Schroon Lake in the hopes of finding a dry place to stay within walking distance of places to eat. Success! I'm at the Yellow Coach Motel right in the village.It's a funky place with a great hot shower and a good price. There was a big vacancy sign outside, but when I walked in and asked about a room the first thing the owners asked was "what are you going to do with that bicycle?". When I told them I wanted to bring it into the room I was afraid they'd tell me they didn't have a room- but all they did was ask me to dry it off! I told them I would (I always do, since I hate dirt and grit on my bikes), and asked them if they had some old newspapers that I could put underneath the bike. That made them happy. I was relieved to find a room. The folks at the Paradox store said I shouldn't have a problem finding one even though it is a weekend. They said it doesn't get busy up here for another few weeks.

I had dinner at Pitkin's restaurant, a diner here in town, after it was recommended by 3 different sources - the folks at the Paradox store, the owners of the motel, and a woman I met at the laundromat. Good comfort food, and great banana cream pie. I'm sure I'll be back there for breakfast tomorrow.

So what happened to my camping trip? I'd like to think that if it was raining and warm that I'd still be camping. But it's raining and 50 degrees out. Too cold and damp for me. I need to be dry at night. Hopefully I'll be camping again later in the week. It sounds like it will be raining for the next couple of days, and then it's supposed to warm up. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.